Voyant Cinémathèque
Yukina Nishioka, Bristlecornpine, 1991, Video8
This April we are thrilled to present a rare look at the work of Kansai-based collective Voyant Cinémathèque, in a program curated by Hal Young. Active from 1983-1996, the collective not only produced a prolific body of experimental work but were active in organising events and screenings in the region.
The two works in the program are Katsumi Aoi’s Tokyo Honeymoon (1985) and Yukina Nishioka’s Bristlecornpine (1991).
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Introduction by Hal Young
Active from 1983 to 1996, the Kansai-based group Voyant Cinémathèque, who drew their name from the work of Arthur Rimbaud, produced a prolific body of experimental film work that was diverse in theme and style yet frequently rich in personal expression. It was initially founded in Kyoto by Masashi Hirata, the group’s representative, along with Teruo Koike and Takahisa Zeze, and its frequently changing line-up would soon include artists such as Atsushi Sakurai, Noboru Yanase, Youichi Yoshimoto, Yukina Nishioka and Katsumi Aoi, with works from the latter two being the central focus of this program.
It seems somewhat restrictive to label Voyant Cinémathèque as a filmmaking group: in addition to creating their own works, its members were highly active in organising experimental film screenings primarily across Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe. During its lifespan, they ran over 70 exhibitions, focusing on artists such as Nobuhiro Kawanaka, Takashi Ito, Katsu Kanai and Toshio Matsumoto, amongst countless others. There was a shared desire to heighten the discourse within the avant-garde scenes active within Kansai, something also evident in the film journal they published, ‘The Voyant Quarterly’.
Although the members of Voyant Cinémathèque each pursued their own individual aesthetics, many of these works contain a shared emphasis on tactile qualities, expressed through their interactions with space. For example, Hirata’s KouKou: Dazzle of Surface (1986, 8mm) is made up of static shots patiently spectating glimmers of sunlight as they move across different urban structures, whilst Mukahira’s W (1989, 8mm) is shot from the director’s perspective as he roams interior and exterior spaces with his camera, using his gloved hand to invisibly trace circles, squares, and triangles atop various everyday objects and elements of his surrounding built environment. The texture of the works put out by Voyant Cinémathèque members, especially those produced in the 1980s, are further defined by their uses of 8mm film; in particular, their deployment of Ektachrome 160 and Kodachrome 40 film stock. These were two rolls of highly differing sensitivity and temperature, the former pushing cold blues to the foreground and the latter containing warm tints.
However, by the early 90s, when the development of Ektachrome 160 and Kodachrome 40 had ceased in Japan, many Voyant Cinémathèque members also began experimenting with video art, shooting works on Video8 and Betacam. The two films chosen for this program, Aoi’s Tokyo Honeymoon (1985) and Nishioka’s Bristlecornpine (1991), shot on 8mm and Video8 respectively, highlight the vast aesthetic variety within the Voyant Cinémathèque works whilst also drawing from similar points of interest. Although shot in two different cities – Tokyo and Osaka – and on two different formats, both Tokyo Honeymoon and Bristlecornpine view their urban settings as sensorially overwhelming spaces with each minor change in light, patterns of smoke, or ripples on water triggering vivid visual and aural responses within the films. This program presents a rare opportunity to experience the unique aesthetics present within the Voyant Cinémathèque works, something showcased through these two striking pieces.
I would like to give a special thanks to the Fukuoka Public City Library Film Archive, who were generous enough to initially introduce me to some of the Voyant Cinémathèque film works during my time exploring their rich collection.
Hal Young
Program
Katsumi Aoi, Tokyo Honeymoon, 1985, 8mm
A central dynamic runs throughout this film: Tokyo as an unknown, mysterious space, and the camera as a receptor of light as it floats nomadically through the city’s interior and exterior spaces. Lighting the city in a seemingly eternal sunset through the warmth of his Kodachrome 40 film, Tokyo Honeymoon was Aoi’s first work upon moving to the capital, having come from his familiar hometown of Kyoto. The perspective given has thus been described as that of a ‘total stranger in an alien town’ and this feeling persists throughout the film as we witness the city through the disembodied gaze of Aoi’s camera: power lines are traced in close-ups, silhouettes of human figures are seen passing by, and rays of sunlight on pathways are fixed upon, with the camera re-adjusting to each change through handheld movement and focus shifts, as if constantly discovering new, textural sensations. Despite its titular setting, Tokyo Honeymoon is not just about Aoi’s move to Tokyo, but his move from Kyoto too, and the adjustment from one specific set of urban geography to another. Without the clear, organic borders of Kyoto’s surrounding mountains, the Tokyo seen by Aoi is a more ambiguous space. Yet, the film ultimately finds a sense of liberation and even excitement in such ambiguities.
Yukina Nishioka, Bristlecornpine , 1991, Video8
Focusing primarily on an industrial area by the sea in Osaka – one of Nishioka’s favourite areas in the city – this film cuts together different shots of a steelworks factory along with spontaneous moments of action: a bird flying past, a passing blimp, a flute of smoke from the factory, and changing patterns in the sea’s ripples. This tension, between the inorganic space of the factory, and the organic elements that suddenly appear in the film, imbues it with a paradoxical feeling of movement and stasis. An elliptical opening gives way to a sustained burst of energy captured through montage, the editing gradually increasing in pace, and the soundtrack, consisting of echoed, double-time drums, soon being joined by twinkling synths that build to a sense of ecstasy. At various points, Nishioka uses a distinct visual fracturing technique, in which sections of the frame splinter, resulting in a look akin to a cracked mirror; an expression of the built landscape struggling to keep up with the speed of the work itself. When shooting the film, Nishioka has said that she viewed the factory as one large tree, with the film’s title having been drawn from the Bristlecone Pine. With the factory at the centre at its centre having now gone, Bristlecornpine remains an important document of this area during a particular time.
Katsumi Aoi 青井克己
Born in Kyoto in 1959. He started making super 8 films in high school, continuing to develop his skills during college. Around 1979, he began to fully pursue his film production career, having saved up so that he could purchase a Canon 1014. From 1990, he also began making video works alongside 8mm and 16mm films. He has presented several works in various exhibitions, both international and domestic, and co-founded the ASH Eyes project, focused on distribution and film preservation, alongside Atsushi Sakurai and Keita Hayashi. Aoi currently resides in Tokyo.
Yukina Nishioka 西岡雪菜 (Current: Yukina Ukitsu 浮津雪菜)
Born in 1968 in Tokushima. After graduating from high school, she studied experimental films under Toshio Matsumoto at the Kyoto College of Art and Design, where she received an award for her graduation film On a Dune (1988, 8mm). After completing her course, she joined the video artist collective Voyant Cinémathèque in 1988, where she remained a member until 1994. She currently works as a graphic designer in her hometown of Tokushima.
Hal Young
Hal Young is a filmmaker and PhD student at the University of St. Andrews. A recipient of the Wolfson Foundation and AD Links awards, his current research focuses on the representation of urban spaces in Japanese experimental cinema from the 1980s and early 1990s, closely analyzing the films made during this period against their social and economic contexts. Previously, his critical biography of Nobuhiko Obayashi has been published in Senses of Cinema.